Dead In 3 Days

OCTOBER 13, 2007

GENRE: SLASHER
SOURCE: THEATRICAL (SCREAMFEST LA)

Earlier this year I watched, and really enjoyed, Slaughter Night, a Dutch slasher movie that really wasn’t all that original, but yet interested me due to the different style that came with it being a film from another country. I feel the same about Dead In 3 Days, a German slasher that is essentially a ripoff of I Know What You Did Last Summer, yet far more engaging and just plain better than that film was. Score another one for German efficiency!

The cool thing about this one was how much they played with the pace/expectations of a teen slasher. The obvious Final Girl is nearly killed a half hour in, and the requisite red herring loner character IS killed shortly thereafter, when you would assume that he would turn out to be not so bad and eventually be the Final Girl’s best friend, or just get killed at the end in a (non) surprise twist.

There’s also some nice kills, particularly one with a fish tank. However, the impact is a bit blunted by the extreme foreshadowing about the tank’s sharp edges. Also, while it wasn’t as annoying as it was in other films (especially I Know What You Did...), it’s almost impossible to guess the killer’s identity, as the information about their motives as well as their non-killing identity aren’t even mentioned until right before the big reveal. Part of the fun of a whodunit slasher film is going back and seeing the clues (Scream is a great example – watch for all the little looks between the killers), something that is not really possible if those elements are wholly absent from the film until a scene before they are required.

Still, it’s a slick, well shot, and engaging slasher, with little to no pretense or attempts at ‘modernizing’ the slasher template. Sometimes it’s nice to see a slasher that’s just a slasher movie. Also, it’s nice to see a girl take her top off in front of her wheelchair-bound dad. This movie offers both!

What say you?